The present invention relates to a method and device for assembling prefabricated components of water retention tanks, such as swimming tanks or swimming pools, for example. It also concerns the water retention tanks such as swimming pools resulting from the implementation of this assembling method and device.
Up until now, numerous methods and systems have been proposed for obtaining underground, semi-underground or above-ground swimming pools, dismountable or not, using prefabricated elements assembled by means of various connecting devices.
For example, the document FR-2 726 527 describes a dismountable swimming pool constituted of a plurality of elements molded by a rotomolding process and assembled by means of bolts and sealing joints through which the shafts of said bolts extend. To avoid injuries, a shoot covers the assembling ribs and the fixing means.
In particular, the disadvantages of such a construction are:
the need to have a completely planar receiving surface, or to prepare such a surface prior to mounting the tank;
the necessity to use a large number of assembly members (threaded shafts and nuts) and adequate tools for tightening them;
a relatively long assembling time;
the difficulty in dismounting, which can result in the corrosion of the assembly members due to their prolonged immersion in water;
the presence of dangerous protuberances in the swimming pool.
The document EP-0 799 952A describes a system for assembling prefabricated panels to form a swimming pool wall, according to which each panel is constituted by a plate, the two opposite vertical edges of which are folded to the same side of the panel to form flanges; the assembly of these panels is carried out by means of two rectilinear section members, i.e., a first section member having a C-shaped right cross-section, which is adapted to be fitted over the adjacent flanges of the two contiguous panels, and a second section member that is adapted to be engaged inside the first section member and between the two adjacent flanges of these two panels, and stiffening means for locking the two flanges into position between the two section members.
Such a method for assembling a swimming pool wall is very difficult to implement. Indeed, the assembly elements which are to be positioned by longitudinal sliding and which are to operate by wedging effect must be force fitted by means of a mallet or other tool.
For the same reasons, dismounting a wall obtained in this way is at least extremely difficult, if not impossible. Furthermore, the strength of such an assembly is very uncertain, such that the document EP-0 799 952 provides a stiffening of the wall by means of reinforcing struts.
Finally, the aforementioned document provides the use of a flexible container or liner to form the bottom and the waterproof covering of the vertical walls of the swimming pool, which requires having a container made specifically for this purpose, which is subject to tear and wear, difficult to put in place, and which requires preparing a rigorously flat terrain.
The document WO 91/09192 describes a swimming pool assembled above the ground, which includes:
an annular framework generally constituted of a base member, a set of spaced apart upright elements or posts set in the base member and topped by a peripheral coping that sits on top of the posts;
a vertical wall made of a sheet metal that extends throughout the internal periphery of the annular framework;
a flexible container to form the bottom and a waterproof lining of the peripheral wall.
The annular framework is constituted of complex elements, and the various constituent parts of the swimming pool are difficult to position and assemble. Moreover, it can be assembled only on a rigorously flat terrain, which requires having such a flat terrain, or preparing such a terrain prior to the assembly. Furthermore, the work described in the document WO 91/09 192 has the aforementioned disadvantages of the water retention tanks obtained by means of a container.
Another system is known (AU-55444/73 A) for assembling panels comprising an edge oriented outward, this system including elongated members for joining these panels, having a longitudinal slit in which the adjacent outer edges of the two contiguous panels are engaged. The author of the aforementioned document envisioned a plurality of possible applications of this assembling system, including, xe2x80x9cin fine,xe2x80x9d the assembly of swimming pools, without specifying, however, whether this is directed to underground, semi-underground, or above-ground swimming pools; however, one can assume, in this case, that this a mere theoretical application, in view of the fact that the joining of the panels by means of mere clipping elements would not make it possible to obtain an adequate sealing, whether this involves underground, semi-underground, or above-ground swimming pools. Moreover, in the application to above-ground swimming pools, this panel joining method would not resist the substantial pressing forces exerted perpendicular to the panels and also parallel to the latter, if one considers that the vertical walls constitute a closed enclosure. Filling a swimming pool with water to according to the assembling method described in the document AU-55444/73-A would inevitably cause the latter to burst.
The invention proposes to overcome the disadvantages and deficiencies of the water retention tanks, such as the dismountable swimming pools adapted to be assembled above the ground, for example.
According to the invention, this object is achieved due to a method and device for assembling constituent elements of a water retention tank, such as a swimming pool, disclosed in independent claims 1 and 2, respectively.
Due to the characteristics arrangement of the device and the method of the invention, it is possible to quickly install water retention tanks such as private or public swimming pools by means of simple and robust elements, without using assembling members such as bolts or the like, the assembly being capable of being carried out easily, without any tool, by only two people. In fact, strictly speaking, the shell elements are not assembled to one another, but are merely juxtaposed.
Another important advantage of the method and device of the invention is that the imperviousness of the shell is obtained by the weight of the shell elements and, in particular, by the water pressure on the inner surface of said shell elements, under the effect of which the sealing joint housed in the structural elements is compressed, the structural elements constituting the joining elements of the shell elements making it possible to resist the pressing forces exerted by water both in the perpendicular direction with respect to said shell elements and in the parallel directions with respect thereto.
The device and the method according to the invention make it possible to obtain permanent or seasonal water retention tanks; they make it possible to avoid using extensive and specialized external means for installing such tanks, and to easily and quickly disassemble them, for example for winter. The various constituent elements of the disassembled swimming pools can be stored in a compact storage space.
Furthermore, this device and this method do not impose any particular shape and dimensions for the tank, such that in the application to the manufacture of swimming pools, in particular, various pool shapes and dimensions can be envisioned.
According to another very important characteristic arrangement of the invention, the carrying framework or structure includes pillars or posts arranged so as to rest on the ground, and crossbeams, these posts and crossbeams being dimensioned and arranged such that after the assembly, the bottom of the water retention tank is positioned, after mounting, above and at a distance from the ground, with the possibility to recover the terrains in their initial state, or substantially in their initial state, after disassembly of the tanks.
Due to this arrangement, it is possible to assemble swimming pools having a variable depth.
According to another characteristic arrangement, the vertical posts or carriers are equipped with length adjusting means, and/or wedging means making it possible to adjust with great precision the horizontal positioning of the surface recovery shoots with which the upper edge of the tanks can be equipped.
Due to this arrangement, the water retention tanks can be mounted on terrains that are planar or hilly, flat or inclined, in natural state or grass-covered.